Law and Order

No, of course I don't mean these two guiding principles of civilized society themselves. I'm talking about the television program that has so fascinated us for two decades and is finally going off the air.

Before reality programs became the vogue, here was a show that introduced viewers to contemporary crime and punishment à la New York City. And what made it all so enjoyable was the feeling as we watched it weekly that we were actually getting a taste of "the real thing".

That's why my brush with TV stardom on this show was so illuminating. And what it taught me is a truth well worth remembering in all of our encounters with the world of TV and cinema.

It all started when I got a call from my agent. My dealings with her until then centered solely on getting my books published - a task she admirably fulfilled for all of the 12 works I've authored. Because she's in the business she often gets calls for other projects as well. And this time I could hardly believe her offer.

“Law and Order is looking for someone to play a rabbi. Interested?”

"I just got a call from the producers of the very popular TV series Law and Order. They have an upcoming script that calls for the role of a rabbi. Would you be interested in trying out for the part?"

So I know that I'm not an actor but I definitely am a rabbi and who better to bring reality to the role while I get the opportunity at the same time to enjoy the experience of a lifetime? I said yes.

All that remained was for me to pass my first screen test. If I made it through my exam for rabbinic ordination, I reassured myself, how hard could this be? I didn't have to spend years under the tutelage of Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio to develop the principles of method acting that would allow me to become a make believe Rabbi. I've been the real thing for over 40 years. There is no way the camera would be able to miss this obvious fact.

I'll admit I was a bit nervous when I came to the studio for my interview. But when I looked at the other candidates my confidence grew by leaps and bounds. There were six other gentlemen, each one manfully struggling with an ill fitting head covering, three of them paper and the other three battered remnants of some long forgotten bar mitzvah, attempting to create the look of an Orthodox Jew crowned by a religiously mandated yarmulke. If ever, I thought to myself, anyone truly stood out like a pig in a poke it was these obvious counterfeiters of traditional conformity.

In my own mind, the part was mine. No one could possibly mistake margarine for real butter, the illusion for actuality.

I was fated to be the last one interviewed. The producer began with a simple question: “So what makes you think you can play the role of a rabbi?” With the inspiration of the moment, I answered, “Are you kidding? I wrote the book for that part” -- and then pulled out a copy of “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism” with my name prominently displayed on the cover as the author.

Of course it got a big laugh. And then I did a reading of the part and the producer told me that I absolutely nailed it.

But as you probably guessed, I didn't get the part. You see, I don't have a beard. I don't look exactly the way people expect a rabbi to look. Externals outweigh reality. Image means more than essence. Please don't think that I'm offering the excuses of someone who didn't get a coveted job by covering for a lack of ability. The producer was kind enough subsequently to give me a call and succinctly share with me the real reason for the death of my Hollywood dream as an on-screen rabbi: “I hate to have to tell you this,” he told me, “but in this business being real is a real disadvantage.”

What could serve as a better summary of the way in which our mass media depict the world around us. And what colossal chutzpah to use the phrase “reality show” for all those distortions of true human feelings, of immoral behavior, of callous and cruel relationships that masquerade as normal representations of civilized behavior.

Watch enough of the Jerry Springer show and you come to actually believe that there are millions more like the participants somewhere out there -- people about as real as the role-playing rabbi on Law and Order. Pattern your romantic life after The Bachelor or The Bachelorette and you will doom yourself to inevitable disappointment and disillusionment.

A little more than half a century ago TV in its infancy was outraged when it turned out that quiz shows were rigged and winners were surreptitiously given answers in advance before dramatically feigning confusion until they somehow miraculously came up with the correct answers. At that time the country was so incensed that Congress intervened and held hearings to probe into the scandal.

Yet that was only about money. It wasn't about all those other major issues around which our current reality shows falsely claim to depict our lives, our morals, our values.

Isn't it time for us to collectively remind ourselves that the business of Hollywood and TV is in fact to substitute the unreal for the real? Because in a make believe world, as the producer confessed to me, being real is a big disadvantage.

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About the Author

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a frequent contributor to Aish, is a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. Author of 14 highly acclaimed books with combined sales of over a half million copies, his newest, The World From A Spiritual Perspective, is a collection of over 100 of his best Aish articles. See his website at rabbibenjaminblech.com.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 5

(5)
Izzy,
June 21, 2010 7:18 PM

Not monolithic not homogenous

In the total run of Law & Order, Jews were depicted as we are, which is a people. Adam Schiff always portrayed a righteous man but a man warts and all. There were brothers like Cain and Able but I do not think we were ever treated any better or worse than anyone else. I will miss looking forward to new episodes. And I miss Lenny.

(4)
joe,
June 11, 2010 3:42 AM

help

LETS BRING IT BACK FOR 2 MORE SEASONS PLEase

(3)
Anonymous,
June 11, 2010 12:36 AM

Your audio tapes

I have listened to your series on the Aleph Beit. Wonderful! Give us more! Thanks

(2)
Anonymous,
June 11, 2010 12:33 AM

What is the draw of being on Law & Order

I have seen many episodes of that series. I believe that show is anti-Jewish as it always portrays observant Jews as hypocritical Jews involved in fraud and murder, they make sure you see the Mezuzah on the door post or the Yarmulka and then weave the deceitful tale around the so called upright Jewish family. If anything, we should be protesting, not wanting to be in it. We are about TRUTH not this world's deceit.

(1)
Anonymous,
June 8, 2010 6:17 PM

I’m just speculating here, but I don’t think you would have liked the whole tedious filming process, what with the fake sets and everything. I’d rather see a real rabbi on television than a caricature with a beard.

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I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

There are many tasks, jobs, and chores that we will end up
doing whether we really enjoy doing them or not. Many hours of our lives are spent this way. The late Rabbi Chaim Friedlander, of Ponevehz Yeshivah, used to say, "If you are going to do it anyway, do it with joy."

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!